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Nomenclature
One of the first things God asked Connor and Brigid when He created them was what they would like to be called. It's not known how they came up with their names, but they did. He also asked them what they would like to call the world He had created for them to live on. It is a well-known story that they first chose the name Earth, until He told them that name was already taken (thus inspiring the fascination Landians would have with Earth, to this day). They then chose a name which essentially meant the same thing as "earth," calling the world The Land. Of course, over the years they would have to come up with names for the children they eventually had, as well as many things on the Land. Some were things that already existed on other worlds, and so they used the words that were used there, utilizing their innate subword sense. (God had of course provided Connor and Brigid with a built-in language, which is believed to be the same as one or several languages used on Earth; though there are many people on the Land who have never even given any thought to the notion of different languages, since we only technically have one on this world.) But there were also any number of things unique to the Land, many of which were not discovered until long after Connor and Brigid's time, so... others have come up with names for such things, as well as naming things they themselves created. As far as the naming of children is concerned, it is common to give them names which they have heard of from stories of other worlds, especially Earth. However, it is also common for parents to simply make up names out of random, meaningless sounds that they just... like the sound of. (Of course, sometimes these names do have meanings as words, but parents tend not to give such names based on such meanings, but rather still consider the names to be random and meaningless.) It should be noted that often on other worlds, people can go by "nicknames," or shortened forms of their given name; whereas on the Land, parents often give their children a full first name which would be considered a nickname on another world. However, it is also common for Landians to go by shortened forms of their own full name. It is therefore often impossible to know, without being told, whether the name you hear a person called is their full name or not. As with naming people, sometimes the names of places mean something (for example, First Village), and sometimes they are just random names made up because the founders liked the sound of it (for example, Triscot). The same may be true to a lesser extent for surnames, though these are far more often actually meaningful, and chosen for specific reasons. Nevertheless, people of the Land have always had a great deal of fun with the choosing of names, be they first or last names of people, or names of places, things, animals, ideas, etc.... Honorifics Since the introduction of surnames, it has become common for men to add the word "Mister" (or Mr.) in front of their surname, while women add "Miz" (or Ms.) in front of theirs. (This was of course never done before surnames, except in Märchen.) It may be of some interest to note that on Earth, women have often gone by different honorifics based on whether or not they were married, whereas men did not. This is not a concept that has ever made any sense to Landians, and therefore our world has adopted a Terran honorific for women which had been established some time later, specifically to avoid the sort of issues we never wanted to create in the first place. Boys are sometimes addressed as "Master" and girls as "Miss," though this is quite rare (unless the one who says it is trying to be funny). Other honorifics have been used long before the creation of surnames, for certain job titles, such as "Doctor" (or Dr.), or for specific ranks in the police and Coast Guard (and more recently in the military). Job titles in politics, religion, and even gangs may also be used as honorifics. See also *language *subwords *surname law Category:Culture